S2E6.2 - Hunter or Hunted

[Ian Dugan]

Abe and Ian Cabin

"Wow."

He had to agree.

He looked at her, as much as he could see of her from this angle, then at his leg.  He was better, but not good enough for that kind of exercise.

"If we stayed here much longer, they're apt ta send a rescue party and come in at the most un-opportune time."

He smiled and lifted his brows.

"We'd best get dressed and down to the mess ... or there wont be any breakfast left for us."

Ian's stomach agreed with that statement, loudly.  His smile changed to an expression of surprised embarrassment.

[Vega Barnet]

When Luke handed the picture to him Vega took it carefully and studied the drawing. Sabrina was definitely beautiful, no denying that. She also had quite the talent for drawing too. Wasn't quite Vegas type though, and while Lukes back was turned Vegas face turned critical and he examined the drawing more closely. He made a "Eh, not bad" face, though was careful not to let Luke see it. She looked a bit to...soft? Vega had always been attracted to hard women. Women who had a certain look about them that spoke of danger and hardship. Women who were a little broken, at least in the eyes of the general population of the verse. He didn't see that in Sabrinas self portrait. Of course this was just a drawing, done by the subject herself in fact, so the drawing was a little bias. The glasses by which one viewed ones self were always a little rose colored.

"She is a beauty, no doubt there." He said, and was about to ask if she'd ever done a portrait of Luke when the captains voice came over the comms.

"Sounds like that toast will have to wait,"

"Sounds like. I'll head up to the bridge, see whats going on." I could probably fly this thing no problem. He thought to himself as he made his way through the ship. He'd been flying most of his life, and flying was flying, ships just took some getting use to. The largest ship he'd ever flown was a 1 deck, 3 bunk craft. Maybe he should talk to Lin about getting a little time at the controls sometime. Being able to fly the bigger craft would be a definite plus on his resume.

[Victoria Dare]

Once they were well on their way and Donovan no longer needed to devote the entirety of his attention to the task of piloting Ronin, Victoria held the plate of food out to him once more, welcoming him to take what he wanted from it without forcing him to take responsibility for it entirely.

"What's my story," Victoria echoed quietly without making eye contact.  Her hazel eyes stared out into the black, as though reading the stars for her own history.  "Many years ago now, when I was about fourteen, I woke up in a secret government facility with no memory of my past."

There was a pause as she allowed Donovan to absorb this first piece of her story, turning her gaze to study him as she continued.

"I eventually pieced together that I had been recruited under the pretense of being sent to a prestigious academy.  Willingly, I'd left my home and my family to receive an education at this Academy, but instead I was subjected to a series of experimental surgeries and... techniques... designed to awaken my latent talents.  At some point during my childhood, the Alliance determined that I had a talent for predicting the future, and they wanted to exploit that ability.  They cut into my brain, stole my memories away from me, and began crafting me into the perfect tool for their needs."

Again she paused, longer than before, letting it all sink in before she finished the story.

"I had no memory of any life other than the Academy... No ambitions other than those they had given me.  As awful as it was, it was all I knew, and I would have remained there forever if I hadn't foreseen my own death at their hands.  They weren't happy with my progress... they wanted me to be better, and in the process of making me better, they were going to kill me."

She allowed her gaze to meet Donovan's, her wide, childlike gaze shadowed by the darkness of her past, but her expression calm and composed.  She didn't get many opportunities to talk about her past--there were very few in the 'Verse she would trust with such information, and for whatever reason only she could be privy to, she trusted Donovan.  Although he'd been on board for only a short while and his interactions with her had been brusque at times, she trusted him.  If he wanted to know about her past, she would tell him, if for no other reason than she had no reason not to.

[kysenp]

As the Ronin broke atmo, there was a small burst of chatter between the ships in orbit with encrypted signals that would take a short while to break. The result was fairly obvious anyway as sensors showed one break orbit to follow Ronin almost immediately afterward. They had been spotted by a series of miniature satellites which had been dispersed in the extreme upper atmosphere and hadn't shown on any of the Ronin sensors.

The Ronin had a good head start, but the ship in pursuit was almost a match for speed. The Ronin would be able to stay ahead only at a full burn.

[Lin Kuei]

Lin kept an eye on the radar as Ronin broke atmo and accelerated away from Harvest. From his position in the other chair in the cockpit, he waited until they were clear before giving out some orders, first on to Casey then the comm. "Casey, hard burn us to Jiangyin now. ... Everyone buckle down. A ship has tracked us coming off of Harvest is following us. Chances are when we hardburn, so will they." Lin looked over his shoulder at Victoria, gave her a faint smile, and returned to the radar set up. It would be necessary for him to maintain something of a watch on their pursuers. Perhaps someone has made the extra effort to come after them this time.

[Donovan Casey]

Donovan listened attentively to Victoria as she spilled to him what little history of her life which she remembered. It all made sense now... "Jesus, Victoria, I'm sorry for what they did to you. I know I wasn't party to it, but... My god. The final puzzle piece. I never would have figured it was something like that." He stops suddenly, his innate suspicions rising to the surface. "Why did you tell me that? You've only known me for---" He stopped suddenly as the movement on the sensor screen showed a vessel making a break straight towards Ronin.

"Casey, hard burn us to Jiangyin now. ... Everyone buckle down. A ship has tracked us coming off of Harvest is following us. Chances are when we hardburn, so will they."

Donovan doesn't waste time with replying to Lin, he simply activates the fullburn... hoping it was going to be enough...

[Victoria Dare]

Victoria didn't bat an eyelash at the news that they were being pursued, or that they were going to full burn.

"Stay at full burn.  We can outpace them."

She seemed calm, but alert.  The platter of food rested in her lap for now as she surveyed the controls.  Though he was probably too preoccupied to see it, Victoria's eyes had shifted in color from placid hazel to an intense shade of green.  As Lin and Donovan kept a watchful eye on the present, Victoria focused her attention on the yet-to-be, careful not to sink so deep that she wouldn't be able to swiftly alert the others to danger if she saw it.

As for her conversation with Donovan, there would be time enough to explain herself later, once they were out of harm's way.

[Abenette Kelker]

Abe and Ian's Room

Abe's heart was still pounding when she noticed him look from her to his leg.  She was quite certain what he was thinking and god... she wanted him as well.  But not yet.

"Don't worry none, Capt'n," she whispered to him.  "It'll heal soon."

She fought back the urge to lock lips with him again, but didn't want to rush things along too fast.  Luckily Ian spoke.

"If we stayed here much longer, they're apt ta send a rescue party and come in at the most un-opportune time."

Abe was actually embarrassed because she took that moment to completely blush.  Blush?  What was with that?

"We'd best get dressed and down to the mess ... or there wont be any breakfast left for us."

She heard Ian's stomach grumble and she let out a hearty laugh.

"Indeed Capt'n," she remarked.  "We mustn't let the stomach down."

She got up and dressed quickly, deciding to yet again, arm herself with Dude, Sam and Tiny Tim.  You never can be too careful when it came to protecting yourself and the ones you cared for.

"This is the Captain. Buckle up and hang on. We may need to prove all of the speed our home is worth."

His tone was clipped and terse.  Something had happened.  She looked back at Ian and started towards the door when Lin came back on.

Everyone buckle down. A ship has tracked us coming off of Harvest is following us. Chances are when we hardburn, so will they."

Then she felt the ship lurch into a hard burn.  She hadn't quite gotten her feet planted, so it made her bump into Ian, who with his leg was probably more unstable than she was.

"Sorry, Capt'n," she said as she righted herself.  She cocked her head just a little.  "Supposed that means breakfast in over?"

[Luke Donovan]

Luke was back in the engine room, awaiting the order to give Ronin all she had and switch to full burn.

"You know, I really like that Vega guy. Did you notice - "

"Not now, sis," Luke cut her off tersely. He needed to pay attention to the engine. He would watch the gauges and listen to Ronin's whirrs and whines. Ronin could handle a full-burn but it was always risky putting that much pressure on a ship's engine for any prolonged period of time so Luke wanted to be ready for anything. And if he could give the ship any extra boost, even a tiny percentage more efficiency, that could mean they moved a fraction of a second faster, which could make all the difference.

[kysenp]

At full burn, the Ronin had just barely crept ahead of the ship in pursuit. The hydrogen cells were looking dangerously low as they neared Jiangyin, and the pursuing ship was still well within sensor range. Unfortunately entry at these speeds spells death in a rather instantaneous way, so there was a decision to make... Turn and confront those trailing them, or continue to run to see whose fuel reserves would last it out.

The full burn had been rough to begin with, but the gravity drive had compensated eventually. The tense 10 hours had been spent keeping the engine cool and the ship from pulling itself apart with the massive acceleration it was seeing. Two hours out from Jiangyin and their choice had to be made now.

[Lin Kuei]

Options, options. Lin disliked the situation intensely. Grabbing the comm, he issued demands for information. "Attention, this is the Captain. ... The hound on our tail that has followed us from Harvest and forced us to stay in hard burn may or may not have reserve fuel cells. Either way we are two hours from Jiangyin with no vehicular weapons onboard Ronin. Now my gut tells me this is a crew sent by our most favorite nemesis but they probably want to take us on the ground. ... Our situation is grim. Low fuel left, no external weapons, and being trailed by a ship that has stayed at hard burn to match us the entire trip. Our options are simple: continue to attempt to get away or go dirtside and take them there. My mindset is to hit the dirt. I'm willing to listen to other options and I'll hear those only in the next sixty seconds." Lin placed the comm back in position and stood from his seat to stretch his body out some for the fight on the horizon. As he did so, his thoughts turned to Victoria and he expected to hear his beloved's voice among the others.

[Victoria Dare]

Sometimes, her visions let her glimpse things further away than her immediate future, but usually her talents just allowed her to see the immediate consequences of her actions.  This allowed her to dodge bullets, but didn't necessarily let her see the outcome of the fight.  Still, it didn't hurt to try.  As Lin's voice came over the intercom, she closed her eyes and exhaled slowly, willing herself to enter that part of her mind that could no longer tell Now from Then.

[Luke Donovan]

Luke was exhausted. Somewhere around hour five Adriana Lucy had started bugging him to ask for help; around hour eight he did. Everything possible was being done to keep the engine cool. All Luke could think to do for himself was to remove clothing. His shirt was off by now. Sweat rolled down his toned torso in tiny rivers. As the Captain spoke over the comm. Luke squatted to the floor for a few moments of respite before replying to Lin.

"Captain, my strong recommendation is that we don't keep pushing the ship's engines like this. I'm giving her everything right now and she's holding, but it's only a matter of time before it gets too much for her. Hitting the dirt and putting up a fight there is the best option from my view."

Of course Luke had no idea what it would take to fly them through atmo under these conditions, or if the current pilot had the chops for it.

[Blake Snow]

Blake was strapped down, gripping onto something nearby with one hand and bracing his other one on the seat he was sitting in. Was it the safest thing to do? He wasn't too sure -he was only told to strap down, not how to do it. He had done something similar the times he had been on a ship and they had encountered any sort of disturbances, though he had to admit this was the first time this had occurred to him. He had overheard stories concerning a ship being chased by another one, though he never had an exact clue about what that meant. Until now, of course. Better late than never?

When Lin spoke over the comm, he began to prepare himself for combat. Well, as much as he could while strapped down and one hand holding onto something. He didn't exactly recall any details about any 'nemesis' -it might not have even come up during conversations- though he did not care that much. He was not one to ask questions; he was there to fulfill his job and get paid. This was more of a long-term thing than a simple task, but the principle was still there. He would be there, and he would be ready to take orders when the time came. That time seemed to be drawing near from the sounds of it.

[Lin Kuei]

Lin quickly reacted to Luke's comments by grabbing the comm. "Understood, Luke. Everybody hold on, we're headed dirtside." He looked to Casey as he took a seat in the other piloting chair. "Get us on the ground now. We cannot burn up anymore than we already are. Let's see if we can find a canyon so we can minimize the fight for others." Lin strapped in and grabbed a hold of the controls, more to help Casey in piloting it safely than anything else.

[Vega Barnet]

Over the course of the 10 hours of hard burn Vega had been several places on the ship. First the cockpit to find out what exactly was going on, then his room to make sure his weapons were all ready if need be, and then up to the engine room to keep Luke company and to offer help in keeping the engine cool when Luke asked for it. Vega knew next to nothing about starship engines, but he could take direction well enough. Gorram it was hot though. As the temperature climbed they'd both removed their shirts. Vega had a decent collection of scars on his toned and well muscled torso, courtesy of his former profession. The most recent was on his front torso, where he'd been shot in the lung back on the Horizon. It was a fresh scar, not yet faded by time. Vega was not a vain man. He'd never worried about how he looked, he looked how he looked and that was that. He was proud of his physique though. He was pushing 40 now and was still in just about as good of shape as he'd ever been. He wasn't quite back to where he'd been before taking a bullet to the lung, and the hospital time that came with it, but he was close.

After Luke gave his recommendation to the captain Vega spoke. "I have a whole new respect for you mechanics. Gorram hard work keeping an engine cool." He wiped his forehead and grimaced. "You good here? I better go get ready, once we set down I imagine the shootin will start pretty quick."

[Luke Donovan]

"I have a whole new respect for you mechanics. Gorram hard work keeping an engine cool."

"Even harder to look cool while doing it," Luke responded jokingly. He wasn't quite sure where the goofy response came from. Maybe it was fatigue setting in after ten hours of work and sweat and heat. Maybe it was just having a friend to help him out when he needed it.

"You good here? I better go get ready, once we set down I imagine the shootin will start pretty quick."

"Yeah, go ahead. Thanks for your help," Luke replied more seriously. "I'll join you later." Luke had to stay with the engine, of course, but that didn't mean he was willing to miss out on the action when it started. He wasn't a point man like Vega but he'd be damned if he didn't get to play his part.

Luke got back to work. He had established quite a rhythm over the past hours but with Vega's help now gone he'd have to start double-timing it.

"Did you see all those scars?" Adriana Lucy asked once Vega was gone. She was sitting on the floor, in a bathing suit and sarong, keeping herself cool with a giant fan. Luke didn't think it was the heat making her swoon.

"No," he answered a little roughly. He was kind of busy right now. "But then I wasn't the one drooling over his chest."

Adriana gave him a sour look. "I didn't mean like that. I meant... well, he's obviously been hurt. A lot. He's not invincible. One of them bullet wounds was recent. It would have punctured his lung. I bet he's not even fully healed yet. He could have been killed, just as easy as anyone. Just think about that when you want to join him in a firefight."

Luke was too used to this kind of talk from Adriana Lucy. She was always worried about his safety, always trying to get him to hide from violence.

"Yeah, but chicks dig scars, don't they?"

[Victoria Dare]

Victoria's mind split in two directions, one exploring what would happen if they continued to run, and the other exploring the consequences of landing.  Her eyes opened, an intense shade of green as they rapidly darted back and forth like in a dream.  Her expression grew grim--she didn't like what she was seeing.

"Bodies and bullets no matter what we do," she said sourly, looking dazed as she faded back into the present.  "Lin.." she mumbled, then louder, "Lin!?"

Victoria unbuckled herself and stood from her seat, apparently unconcerned with the fact that she should probably stay strapped down.  She sought Lin out, her expression pale and fatigued from her journey into the Yet-to-Be.

"We need to land, but we can't relax, not for a moment," she said.  "Things are bad no matter what we do."  She looked unusually grim.  Although their missions were often life-or-death situations, she rarely seemed pessimistic.  The fact that she was so visibly rattled was not a good sign, but if she knew specifics on what awaited them dirtside, she didn't share them.

She turned away and started for their quarters to fetch her weapons.  She was going to need to be prepared for what was to come, especially if she was going to prevent her vision from coming to pass.  Whatever happened, she had to be ready.

She wasn't going to let Abe out of her sight.

[Lin Kuei]

Lin grabbed a hold of Victoria as the ship started to descend and pulled her onto his lap then reached up to grab the comm. "Ian, Abbey, Vega, and Blake prep what you need to do. Chances are we'll hardly have the time to do it once we land. Luke, prep for the impact on the atmo." He replaced the comm set. This was probably going to be one of the toughest fights in recent memory. "Casey, get us to the ground quickly. ... Bao bei, I'll need you to help spot the safest place to set things down so we can have some kind of advantage. We'll get out of this one." Lin gave Victoria a brief hug before returning his attention to the scopes.

[kysenp]

Re-entry was hellish. They had been moving with such velocity that the final adjustments couldn't be done swiftly enough. The servos wouldn't respond with adequate time, and the Ronin seemed to twist under Donovan's grip. The whole ship groaned with the rapid heating of the hull, and large pops could be heard as several hull plates came loose and instantly melted. Then the Ronin shuddered as they broke through the upper atmosphere into breathable air, but they were still moving with breakneck speed. One of the servos running the thruster on the right side was no longer responding, and all of the flaps seemed to be welded into place. This wouldn't so much be a messy landing, at best it might be an elegant crash.